This persuasive technique is called appeal to authority.
Appeal to authority is a persuasive technique where the speaker relies on the credibility of another person or event to suport their own argument. It is often considered a fallacy because the speaker depends on the "authority"instead of presenting their own evidence.
Example:
"A commercial claims that <u>3 out of 4 dentists</u> would choose this particular brand of toothpaste for their own families to use."
In this statement, the dentists are the authority the argument depends on.
This quote is an example of characterization as it explains the type of character Fortunato is "a man to be respected and even feared." It should be noted that Fortunato's name is an example of irony because in the end he is not fortunate.
